Ruby-throated Season Coming to a Close

Now that we're into September, the ruby-throated migration is in full swing. Males head for their southern territory first, leaving females and juveniles better access to feeding resources in the breeding territories. All the hummers try to double their body weight in preparation for the long journey back to the semi-tropics. Then the females will head home. Last to leave will be the ones born this summer. Amazingly, the birds fly individually. Adult hummers do not show the new birds where to go - they just follow their instincts. Leaving feeders up will NOT delay the migration. In fact, leaving feeders up will provide much needed energy for the migrating birds that are passing through from further north. Most of the ruby-throats will be completely out of Missouri by mid-October. but there's a chance to spot a straggler or two even later.

Here at the Lake of the Ozarks, there is a least one male still hanging around. Feeder activity has definitely slowed down though. Surprisingly. we still are seeing Baltimore orioles, although we haven't noticed any orchard orioles for a few days. The orioles usually depart earlier than the hummingbirds.

We had another fantastic summer of hummers. There must have been 50-70 hanging around at the height of the season. They are such fun to watch! Keeping up with the feeders is a daily chore, but a chore with wonderful rewards.

We want to thank the Board Members and all of the very special volunteers who work so hard to make the Sedona Hummingbird Festival THE premier hummingbird festival in the US. For us, it's a time to reconnect with friends who share our passion. We love seeing the fabulous and creative hummingbird art by our fellow vendors, and of course we always come home with more to add to our collection. It doesn't hurt that the festival is always a successful show for us. This year we again put out some Ozarklake feeders, and the Arizona hummers loved them as much as our Missouri hummers do! Thanks to Laura Osteen for these amazing pictures.

We're been homebodies since the Hummingbird Festival in Sedona. But later this month we will head out to Council Bluffs, IA, for the International Master Gardener Conference. Right after that we will head to the Wings and Wildflowers Festival in Leesburg, FL. And since we have grandkids living in St. Petersburg, we'll be hanging around in sunny Florida for a few days before returning to Missouri and awaiting the arrival of Old Man Winter,

Hummingbird fact for today: Cats, both domestic and feral, are probably the most common predator of hummingbirds. Cats should be indoor pets! 

Nearly Fall and We Still Have Hummers!

This is the first year that we have been home consistently through the month of September in quite a long while. So we really have no idea when the ruby-throats leave the Lake of the Ozarks. So far so good! There's even a couple of males hanging around. Yay!

So Sad

It seems that our summer visitors have begun to leave us. There are fewer males, both hummers and orioles. Those still here are feeding like crazy though. The hummers try to double their body weight before they head south - that's a l-o-n-g journey for such tiny little birds!

The hummers seem to have a heightened need to guard their food source. This little bully guards from the front, from the rear, and seemed to win this particular battle!

Art in Bayfront Park in Duluth, MN, was a very nice show. The "breeze" coming off Lake Superior was a bit much at times, but the setting is beautiful. On our never-ending quest to find the odd and unique on our travels, we stopped at the Spam Museum in Austin, MN, and Deke Slayton and Bicycle Museum in Sparta, WI.

Our next show will be at Cedarhurst Center for the Arts in Mount Vernon, IL. We haven't been to this show in several years and hope to see old friends while making new ones. Then we'll head off to the HummerBird Celebration in Rockport, TX. Rockport is on the flyway for the ruby-throated hummingbirds as they head south, so it should be quite fun. We'll miss our fellow artists at Silver Dollar City this fall, but we have new places to see!

Hummingbird fact for today: Leaving your feeder up does not prevent the migration of the hummingbirds. They migrate according to the change in light.

They're Back!!!!!!

We spotted our first male Ruby-throated last week. Last evening we spotted two males fighting over the feeder. Females should begin arriving in 10-14 days.

We had a GREAT weekend and show in Stillwater, OK. First, we went to Eskimo Joe's to get our own t-shirts because at every single show we've done we've seen at least one person wearing an Eskimo Joe's t-shirt. Obviously, we had to have our own!

Despite unbearably cold, windy, and wet weather on the scheduled set-up day, Jessica Novak did a remarkable job organizing the Stillwater Art Festival. Many of us waited until Saturday morning to set up and the weather was absolutely perfect. Winds on Sunday were terrible, so many of us took down our tents and displayed our work sans cover/shade. Thank you, patrons of the Stillwater Art Festival and the City of Stillwater for a fantastic show.

Various and assorted construction items are arriving, so the studio should move right along now. Saws and hammers are going as I write this.

Hummingbird fact for today: The first male Ruby-throated of 2011 was spotted on our porch on August 12.